Today, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Central government in response to a plea filed by Professor Ashok Swain, challenging the government's decision to revoke his Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.

Professor Ashok Swain is an academic and writer of Indian origin. He currently holds the position of a professor specializing in peace and conflict research at Uppsala University in Sweden.

The single-headed bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad has directed the Indian government to submit its response within four weeks and scheduled the case for hearing in November.

This marks the second occasion on which Professor Swain has approached the High Court to challenge the cancellation of his OCI card.

Earlier, his overseas citizenship had been canceled on February 8, 2022. Nevertheless, on July 10 of this year, the High Court quashes the government's decision to revoke Professor Swain's OCI card, citing the absence of a valid justification for the cancellation. At that time, the Court instructed the Central government to issue a new, well-founded order regarding the matter.

Swain has once again contested the government's order issued on July 30, 2023, which revoked his overseas citizenship. He has argued that this order lacks any specific reference to an incident, tweet, written work, or any substantiated reason supporting the accusation that he was blacklisted due to alleged anti-India activities or for supposedly disseminating harmful propaganda through his writings and speeches.

Professor Swain has further asserted that he is an academic and should not be subjected to persecution or harassment for expressing his opinions on government policies or the prevailing political environment. He emphasized that he has an ailing mother, approximately 78 years old, residing in India, whom he has been unable to visit for the past three years.

"The Petitioner is the only son, and has not been to India in the past 3 years. Thus, there is an extreme urgency for him to visit India and attend to his ailing mother," his plea added.